From DE 198 38 333 A ! of the Applicant, a computer system is known having at least one processor and at least one memory for controlling a drive unit. It is the aim to state a control structure of the overall vehicle with the aid of which the powertrain and especially the drive unit may be linked to externally lying components. Drive train and powertrain unit are merged into an overall vehicle concept in an engine management. The vehicle is regarded as an overall system, made up of functional units as a first component. The overall system, made up of functional units, is subdivided into various predefinable components, such as vehicle motion and drive coordinator. The powertrain unit, in this context, is specified as a component. The powertrain unit is controlled as a function of the specified components and/or the data exchanged at the interfaces between the components. Because of this composite system, individual elements or functional units can no longer be regarded separately, but merged into the overall concept. In a drive control or an engine control, for example, not only torque demands or power demands or rotary speed specifications of the vehicle motion, such as steering, brake or driving dynamics regulation have to be taken into consideration, but also power demands or torque demands and/or rotary speed data on all accessories and actuators. However, beyond that, there is also the possibility of carrying out a drive control adapted to the respective circumstances, by access to data and information of other functional units and systems, such as surroundings variables, driving state variables, vehicle variables and user variables. However, the disadvantage is that it is not possible to select individual functional units by an anonymous method.
From EP 0 883 510 B1 a powertrain control for a motor vehicle is known which includes a wheel torque calculating circuit, by which the setting of the accelerator is interpreted as a wheel torque or transmission output torque commanded by the driver, and is used for calculating setpoint values for the torque to be developed by the powertrain, and which has a control citcuit that is furnished with a fuzzy system, in which the desired wheel torque is evaluated together with operating parameters of the motor vehicle and with environmental parameters, by which, in the light of a central driving strategy selection circuit, the operating mode of the powertrain is adjusted to predefined criteria, at any driving manner of the driver and driving situations of the motor vehicle, and which is connected to an engine performance actuator to which it emits an output signal, by which the setpoint wheel torque to be supplied by the wheels to the roadway is determined. A strategy is determined centrally for the engine control, the engine performance actuator and the drive control in such a way that the discharge of polluting agents is minimized. The central strategy may also have as a purpose a driving performance-oriented mode of the motor vehicle. All decentralized functional units are set in this strategy in such a way that a best possible acceleration and a quick response of the drive to the driver's command are available. Such a mode is necessary for a sporty manner of driving and for uphill driving The control takes place via a control circuit, the data exchange being carried out via a rapid serial bus communication, such as a CAN bus.
The disadvantage with this is that all the components are adapted to the central control circuit, so that especially an anonymous method for selecting components is not available.
In motor vehicles, for different components in the drive train, such as engine and transmission, interfaces are agreed upon for communications via which the demands are able to be transmitted, so that they may be carried out by the receiving component (in the motor vehicle field, a widespread technical interface for control unit networking is, for example, the CAN bus).
Besides the accelerator and the brake pedal there are many additional demand setters that can make demands on the drive train. Typical examples for this are convenience systems, such as the vehicle speed controller, or safety systems, such as the ASR and ESP. In this context, a large portion of development and computing capacity is disadvantageously used to decide, corresponding to the current driving situation, at what point which system is actually permitted actively to specify or influence the operating point of the drive train.
It is known that, for controlling operating sequences of a vehicle, one may use embedded software solutions, building up on a real-time operating system as a standard operating system, e.g. ERCOS or OSEK or rather OSEK/VDX. In this context, application-specific functions, basic system functions, core functions as well as the corresponding driver software, that is, the specific base functions, are interwoven, on the one hand, with the different operating functions and suboperating functionalities on the other hand, which determine the actual operating behavior of the vehicle. Necessary or desired changes in functions, or the retrospective fitting in of functions permit creating very complex systems developments in the case of such interwoven software solutions, particularly of the interfaces.
From DE 100 44 319 A1 of the Applicant, the abstract idea is already known that one may achieve an optimization by the clear separation of operating functions and base functions and the introduction of a system layer or intermediate layer having an open interface function. In this context, one starts from an electronic system for a vehicle or from a system layer of the electronic system, the electronic system including first components for carrying out control tasks during operating sequences of the vehicle, and second components which coordinate cooperation of the first components for carrying out the control tasks. In this context, the first components execute the control tasks by using operating functions and basic functions.
Advantageously, the system is constructed in such a way that the basic functions and the operating functions or partial operating functionalities (designated as operating submodules or plug-ins) are clearly separated from one another, the basic functions being combined in a base layer. The system layer is then expediently superimposed on the base layer, which contains the basic functions. The system layer or intermediate layer, in this context, includes at least two of the second components that coordinate the cooperation of the control components. In this context, at least one open interface to the operating functions is provided, in or for the system layer, whereby the system layer connects the basic functions to any desired operating functions in such a way that the operating functions are modularly linked and/or used, or are able to be linked modularly to the electronic system. Thereby the operating functions or the operating submodules become able to be modularly linked to the electronic system, reusable, and exchangeable or changeable at any time. Because of the system layer, a defined interface is determined, so as to make possible, within the scope of the control unit software, a variant formation for any operating functions as well as broadenings or changes of the functionality, especially by operating submodules, so-called plug-ins. Thereby, in one embodiment, a system that is already in mass production or in use or operation, may at any time be further refined, changed and/or broadened by the addition of new operating functions. With this, in a meaningful way, control tasks or specific performance features of an electronic system may be flexibly and individually designed, developed and implemented. Besides that, in addition, the monitoring functions with respect to the operating functions and/or the operating submodules may be linked to the system layer. Because of this modularization of the software functionalities and the monitoring functionalities, the possibility arises, for example, of linking software set up by third parties to the electronic system with little expenditure. This also permits constituting specific variants exclusively within the operating functions or the operating submodules, while the system layer may be designed independent of the application. It is a disadvantage, in this connection, that only formal specifications are made, and concrete procedures, as regards content, are not given, especially no anonymous method for the selection of operating submodules or plug-ins.